Fortress' impressive three world record performance over the weekend made me think of this topic. Obviously the things she's doing are working well for the events she likes to swim. She concentrates on SDKs, fast swimming with lots of rest and drylands to aid in explosiveness. Long aerobic sets just aren't a part of her training regime, from what I've seen.
Almost every organized training group I've swum with, on the other hand, focuses on long aerobic sets, short rest, not a whole lot of fast stuff, etc. Basically the polar opposite of how Fortress trains. In my opinion this probably works pretty well for those who swim longer events, but really does very little for sprinters. The sprint events are almost always the most popular events at meets, so why do people choose to train aerobically? I think there are a number of factors at play. There's the much maligned triathletes. There's those who don't compete and "just want to get their yardage in." There's a historical precedent of lots of yardage being the way to go.
So what do you all think? How does you or your team train? I know lots of regular bloggers here DO train differently than my perception of the norm. Examples include Ande, Chris S. and Speedo. Are too many masters teams stuck in a training regime that is not at all what many of their swimmers need to get faster?
I have been swimming in the masters for about four years. In the summer I train with a team and their 3K-4K practices kill me--not for speed but for distance. I am 58 yrs old and my longest event is the 200 FS but my strongest events are the 50 and 100 Fly. Doing thousands of yards breaks me down and limits my ability to practice going fast. Also in these events the starts, turns and underwater kicks usually detemines the winners. I always laugh/get frustrated when swimmers world puts out its favorite workouts at 5K-6K yds. I can only speak for myself but I can't manage that distance and maintain any type of competitive speed. I would love to see 2K--2.5K yds. workouts that maximize speed.
I have been swimming in the masters for about four years. In the summer I train with a team and their 3K-4K practices kill me--not for speed but for distance. I am 58 yrs old and my longest event is the 200 FS but my strongest events are the 50 and 100 Fly. Doing thousands of yards breaks me down and limits my ability to practice going fast. Also in these events the starts, turns and underwater kicks usually detemines the winners. I always laugh/get frustrated when swimmers world puts out its favorite workouts at 5K-6K yds. I can only speak for myself but I can't manage that distance and maintain any type of competitive speed. I would love to see 2K--2.5K yds. workouts that maximize speed.
